Sylvia Fox from Randallstown was looking for the recipe for the Tomato Florentine soup that she said is frequently available at the salad bar at the North Charles Street location of Eddie's of Roland Park. Since she lives some distance from the store, she was hoping to get the recipe so that she could make this tasty soup at home. I contacted Eddie's, and it graciously shared the recipe. Owner Nancy Cohen believes that the recipe came from one of her chefs who had once worked at the venerable Haussner's restaurant and that it may have been served there.

Pasta has become America's national food. Combine it with a few other ingredients and it makes for a nourishing meal at a moment's notice. Peppery shrimp pasta is an excellent throw-together dish for a low-fat family supper or casual dinner with friends because it's fast, colorful, tasty and you can keep the ingredients on hand until you are ready to cook.Keep a ready supply of shrimp by buying it frozen in the shell at the seafood counter of your supermarket. Supermarkets stock individually quick-frozen shrimp in a variety of sizes, which they thaw as needed to place in the display case.

To Baltimoreans by residence or in spirit, to Baltimoreans in need of comfort - that is, anyone with a corpuscle of love for the Ravens - I offer what works for me during any winter of discontent: coq au vin. The Super Bowl is a week away, and most of us will watch it, wondering what might have been had Billy Cundiff … or Lee Evans ... but never mind that. There are no comforting words for what happened last Sunday and what will happen next Sunday: our New England nemesis versus the New York franchise the Ravens trounced in the big game 11 long years ago. So let's try the coq au vin. Let me be clear: This is neither tailgate food nor a dish that requires a varsity letter in culinary arts.

When fresh tomatoes are abundant this summer - and we have consumed all we can in salads, on sandwiches, grilled and in salsas before their beauty fades - we will long to make tomato sauce. But there's a problem: For a classic lusty red pasta sauce, chefs actually tend to prefer canned tomatoes, says Richard Stuthmann, chief of instruction at Baltimore International College. Fresh tomatoes "aren't consistent," says Stuthmann, "and they aren't the red color we expect." So take a middle ground and combine the bounty of the farmers' market and the garden with tomato paste to make a quick marinara.

San Franciscans have long had a love affair with a spicy seafood stew that is not unlike the famed bouillabaisse of France. Shellfish and whitefish swimming in a garlicky tomato and white wine base make up the standard ingredients. Fennel bulb adds a delicate sweetness and works so well with fish. This entree is deceptively simple and very low in fat.Serve the soupy dish over al dente linguine or spaghetti, or, if you prefer a crunchy contrast, just pair it with a crusty country-style bread.

For generations, Mediterranean cooks have combined tomatoes, herbs, garlic and olive oil with fresh seafood. This time-honored ingredient mix has been updated in the following recipe for Mediterranean fish.The result is an easy-to-make, robust fish dinner that is low in fat, high in protein. The recipe can be made with almost any kind of fish.The microwave oven cooks fish quickly so the delicate flesh stays tender and doesn't dry out. The zesty topping of herbs and vegetables moistens the fish as it cooks and provides a bit of Italian-flavored juice that soaks nicely into rice, orzo or couscous.

By Kate Shatzkin and Kate Shatzkin,kate.shatzkin@baltsun.com | September 10, 2008

Rotisserie chickens from the supermarket are certainly convenient, but you can easily spend about $9 to take one home. If you buy whole chicken in twin packs, on the other hand, you might be able to get two for close to the same price, and for much less per pound than cut-up chicken parts. Then you can play with your own easy flavor combinations. This spicy tomato-citrus marinade is great for late-summer grilling; it turns out tender meat and skin with a kick. Serve with roasted potatoes and corn.

Sylvia Fox from Randallstown was looking for the recipe for the Tomato Florentine soup that she said is frequently available at the salad bar at the North Charles Street location of Eddie's of Roland Park. Since she lives some distance from the store, she was hoping to get the recipe so that she could make this tasty soup at home. I contacted Eddie's, and it graciously shared the recipe. Owner Nancy Cohen believes that the recipe came from one of her chefs who had once worked at the venerable Haussner's restaurant and that it may have been served there.

Condensed cream of tomato soup was one of the first dishes I ever made, popcorn and sugar cookies being the others. When I came home from a rough afternoon in fifth grade, I'd open a can of tomato soup, scoop it into a pot with some water or milk and feel very accomplished.This probably went on far too long. I realized it was possible to make tomato soup but assumed it was too time-consuming compared to can-opener cooking and didn't bother.That's because I was attempting a smooth bisque that requires peeling and seeding tomatoes, straining the soup and then thickening it. But when I thought of tomato soup as a delicious broth with chunks of tomatoes and other vegetables I knew I could eliminate many of the steps.

By Kate Shatzkin and Kate Shatzkin,kate.shatzkin@baltsun.com | September 10, 2008

Rotisserie chickens from the supermarket are certainly convenient, but you can easily spend about $9 to take one home. If you buy whole chicken in twin packs, on the other hand, you might be able to get two for close to the same price, and for much less per pound than cut-up chicken parts. Then you can play with your own easy flavor combinations. This spicy tomato-citrus marinade is great for late-summer grilling; it turns out tender meat and skin with a kick. Serve with roasted potatoes and corn.

Lidia's Italy By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich with Tanya Bastianich Manuali Antonio Carluccio's Italia By Antonio Carluccio Quadrille Publishing Ltd. / 2007 / $35.95 With several British Broadcasting Corp. cooking shows under his belt, Antonio Carluccio, raised in Italy and now a chef in London, is something of the British equivalent of Lidia Bastianich. His lovely book penetrates even further into Italy's regional variety, with chapters that divide the country's cuisine into 18 geographic sections.

When fresh tomatoes are abundant this summer - and we have consumed all we can in salads, on sandwiches, grilled and in salsas before their beauty fades - we will long to make tomato sauce. But there's a problem: For a classic lusty red pasta sauce, chefs actually tend to prefer canned tomatoes, says Richard Stuthmann, chief of instruction at Baltimore International College. Fresh tomatoes "aren't consistent," says Stuthmann, "and they aren't the red color we expect." So take a middle ground and combine the bounty of the farmers' market and the garden with tomato paste to make a quick marinara.

The butcher laughed when I called to order beef short ribs. I wasn't the only one asking. Being a veteran of the meat wars, he could well recall when this meat cut was so unpopular that it wasn't worth wrapping and putting on the shelves. How things have changed. You can't look at an American restaurant menu without seeing some version of braised short ribs. Earlier this year, Bon Appetit magazine named the ribs the dish of the year. The magazine praised the "meaty, rich and meltingly tender" quality of short ribs.

Each day of the week offers a menu aimed at a different aspect of meal planning. There's a family meal, a kids' menu aimed at younger tastes, a heat-and-eat meal that recycles leftovers, a budget meal that employs a cost-cutting strategy, a meatless or "less meat" dish for people who may not be strict vegetarians but are trying to cut down on meat, an express meal that requires little or no preparation, and an entertaining menu that's quick. SUNDAY/FAMILY You can play Sam's Casablanca Chicken one more time for the family.

*TC The long wait for that sublime summer pair, basil and tomatoes, is over.Fresh, fragrant basil and rich, ripe tomatoes complement each other not just on the plate, but also in the garden. They grow in the same temperatures, in the same fields, and, if one is doing well, the other will, too.Basil and tomatoes are available year-round, but summer ushers in a season of abundance and variety, from tiny yellow pear tomatoes to ruffly purple basil.Ethan Milkes grows culinary herbs and edible flowers year-round in the field and in greenhouses.

The butcher laughed when I called to order beef short ribs. I wasn't the only one asking. Being a veteran of the meat wars, he could well recall when this meat cut was so unpopular that it wasn't worth wrapping and putting on the shelves. How things have changed. You can't look at an American restaurant menu without seeing some version of braised short ribs. Earlier this year, Bon Appetit magazine named the ribs the dish of the year. The magazine praised the "meaty, rich and meltingly tender" quality of short ribs.

You may be speaking lightly, but we hear you loud and strong. Many of you home cooks care passionately about decreasing fat, cholesterol, calories, sugar and/or salt in cooking while increasing the amount of fiber and generally improving the nutritional value of foods you and your family eat.As part of the movement toward lightening up, we've come up with some recipe make-overs of favorite dishes -- adjusting ingredients in classic recipes to make them...

Pasta has become America's national food. Combine it with a few other ingredients and it makes for a nourishing meal at a moment's notice. Peppery shrimp pasta is an excellent throw-together dish for a low-fat family supper or casual dinner with friends because it's fast, colorful, tasty and you can keep the ingredients on hand until you are ready to cook.Keep a ready supply of shrimp by buying it frozen in the shell at the seafood counter of your supermarket. Supermarkets stock individually quick-frozen shrimp in a variety of sizes, which they thaw as needed to place in the display case.

Think pasta, and Italy comes to mind.Think rice. Think corn. Do China or Mexico come to mind?Think again -- of Italy.Risotto made from short-grain arborio rice and polenta from coarsely ground cornmeal are as Italian as spaghetti and meatballs.Here's more sage advice: Forget basil and oregano.In the north, where risotto and polenta reign, fresh sage is the favored herb. It's found in the aforementioned second-course dishes and in roasted meats, fowl and fish.Milder than dried, fresh sage's delicate but smoky flavor lends itself to the rich butter, cream and olive oil tones that distinguish much of the food in this region.